The Princess Diaries.

I'm very sorry I haven't been around but, things have been extremely hectic in our household since our road trip to the NZ National Dog Show.
As this is being written I am lying on the deck in the yard with Angie the puppy's head nestled on my rib cage, Freddie the S/Vallhund is cuddled up into her back and my tummy, and we're all having a peaceful sleep as our dinner is cooking.

The road trip to the NZ National Dog Show was extremely tiring for all of us that went - me, Howard Jr, Angie Georgi's puppy, Freddie, and our boarder doggy Nixxy.
Georgi was entered, but is so relaxed living out in the country now she was in no shape to compete at a National Dog Show!

Our road trip was filled with lots of doggy stops at picturesque off the road places mommy and daddy had prechosen where we could run free and swim in rivers away from the public.

Once daddy had driven us off the ferry ride that took 3hrs between our islands, we got an instant definite booking for a puppy from our kennel.
Mommy and daddy stopped at the first dog friendly park available for us doggies to have a run and stretch our legs.
We were all loaded up ready to continue on our journey when a tradesman company van pulled up beside our van and the man that drove it yelled at daddy to open his window.
Daddy looked at mommy and raised his eyebrows as he wondered what sort of a madman this person was!

It turned out that this man had lost his most loved and faithful GSD a year ago that very day.
He had gone on line that morning on the anniversary of his precious doggy's passing and looked up the GSD puppies for sale and the kennel websites (our kennel still not having a website). He had been extremely disappointed with what he had seen, but then when he had seen us running free in the park from the motorway we had literally blown his mind with our beauty and strength. It had taken him 20mins to drive out of his way back to us. He gave mommy and daddy a right gruelling about our pedigrees, our health check results, and made daddy run us out individually so that he could see how correct our sequence of steps was as we moved.
This man has placed a definite order for one of Howard Jr's pups after a lengthy conversation with mommy who has asked that he send her references as a dog owner.

Mommy and daddy were pleased with our results from the national show, even though it was our least successful national show ever where we didn't win one of the big/covetted rosettes for our kennel.
Howard Jr was placed 2nd behind the dog that eventually won Best Of Breed. Angie Georgi's puppy won Best Puppy of Breed over the puppy the judge placed as runner up best dog over Howard Jr. Angie also went through to the final judging of the puppy stakes (which is exceptional despite her not being placed in the final judging) which had daddy and mommy opening a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
Freddie and Nixxy the S/Vallhunds both won their classes over some very creditable competition in the biggest S/Vallhund lineup ever seen in our country. Nixxy then beat Freddie for the top prize in their age group for breed.
Baby Angie brought home the only rosette for our kennel from the national show this year - but there were many kennels that didn't even get that, and would have given anything to have Angie's rosette attached proudly to a crate in their crate camp.

We said a very sad goodbye to our boarder doggy Nixxy who is now moving on to a life of the greatest calling a successful doggy show girl can ever have - motherhood.
Nixxy's puppies, that as yet sleep in the future, are pre-ordered in Australia and further afield all over the world. Mommy and daddy have their names on a future Nixxy puppy, but as their choices are very limited for Nixxy's first two litters. We may not have a Nixxy puppy coming to live with us for a couple of years yet.

While our competitive results at the national dog show weren't as good as previous years, the orders for puppies from our kennel were stronger than ever before.
Mommy got 3 definite bookings for puppies from the grooming area, and handed out our kennel cards to lots of other potentially interested puppy buyers.

Daddy got a definite booking for one of my future puppies from a family that saw daddy walking me down the road near the show venue. The man called me and daddy over to him from the other side of the road as he and his family were walking back to their car. He told daddy that I just had to be the most beautiful GSD girl he had ever seen, and asked why I hadn't been entered in the show. Daddy told him about my sad angel puppies, and the man gently rubbed my ear as daddy told him about the saddest thing in my whole doggy life. The man then told daddy that he had owned several GSD's before he had his children, and now that his children were old enough to have a dog he had taken his family along to the national show to look at the best GSD girls in NZ with the view of booking a future puppy from one of them. Sadly he hadn't seen any GSD girl that had taken his eye apart from the puppy girl. He told daddy that he wants a puppy for his family sooner than that girl will be old enough to have puppies, and had left the show feeling really despondent - the only glimmer of hope being our kennel card that mommy gave him in the grooming area after the GSD's were shown.
Daddy gave the man's children some liver bait to feed me, and in no time I was lying on my back with several young children hugging me as they fed me liver bait.
As this was happening daddy openly and honestly explained to the man that I am an extremely high energy dog that doesn't suffer fools, is totally loyal and protective of my family, and that my puppies are probably going to be more expensive because of the expense of expensive overseas studs being equated into the price of my puppies.
The man told daddy he would pay anything to have one of my puppies!

Now we're home, and straight back into the showring down here this past weekend where us doggies are continuing on with our winning as a doggy family.
Life is always tough at the top.
I'm also back in the showring, and for some strange reason the malicious gossip has been worse than ever.

Thank you Sophie-Claire and Flicka.
I definitely won't be having puppies for a while, however Holly and our rescue girl Maggie will be - all going well.
The only problem mommy and daddy are having is that they have got so many really good future homes for our puppies they don't know if they'll have enough puppies to fill all those orders.